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Found near Quinicy school in September, registered sex offender works out plea deal to avoid felony

Joel Lohmeyer

Posted: Jan. 10, 2013 3:49 pm Updated: Nov. 28, 2014 9:17 pm

By DON O'BRIEN Herald-Whig Staff Writer

A registered child sex offender from Quincy pleaded guilty Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of unlawfully being in a school zone.

Facing a Class 4 felony count of unlawful presence in a school zone, Joel Rae Lohmeyer, 32, entered a guilty plea to a Class A misdemeanor as part of a plea agreement. As part of the plea agreement, Lohmeyer will receive probation or conditional discharge. His bond also was reduced from $10,000 to $1,000 by Judge Robert Adrian.

Adams County State's Attorney Jon Barnard said Lohmeyer was a passenger in a vehicle that stopped Sept. 10 near St. Francis Solanus School, 1720 College. The driver was picking up a child from school. A staff member at St. Francis identified Lohmeyer and reported his presence to the Quincy Police Department.

Barnard said his office checked with school officials before entering into the plea agreement in the case.

Lohmeyer was convicted of criminal sexual abuse of a 15-year-old girl in 1999. Three times since that conviction, Lohmeyer has been convicted of violations of rules pertaining to the state's sex offender registry. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections in a 2001 case. In 2002, while he was on parole in the 2001 case, he was charged with another felony violation of the sex offender registry rules. He received three years in prison in that case.

A 2006 violation brought another felony charge. Lohmeyer received 18 months' probation and a 90-day sentence in the Adams County Jail in that case.

He has been lodged at the Adams County Jail since his Oct. 15 arrest. He is scheduled to be sentenced at 11 a.m. Feb. 28.